Joseph Peter Sullivan has lived throughout the United States and continues to travel, though he is currently based in Minneapolis. The artist creates photographs and paintings that express an interest in abstraction through light, shadow, and texture.

I really enjoy Joseph’s photographs. These works play with the viewer’s expectations of what a photograph can be, and what information it can reveal or keep hidden. In Joseph’s Present Works and Self Portrait gallery, the photographs magnify tiny spaces and interactions – sometimes between various manmade materials, sometimes small moments captured in grass, feathers, or other organic forms. In some cases, the original subject matter of the photo is largely unrecognizable.

Joseph’s paintings of pop culture “monsters” – like Jabba the Hut and the abominable snowman – are an interesting take on a classical portraiture format. The vast, inhuman forms of Joseph’s subjects take up most of the picture plane and become almost landscapes by their own rights.

About the author

Dallas Jeffs is the Editor of Artist Run Website's blog. She is a recent graduate of Emily Carr University of Art and Design, where she studied Critical and Cultural Practices. She is passionate about talking and writing about art, and sharing that interest with others. In her studio practice she is a painter, but she considers herself an art writer and educator foremost. If you like art, books and culture with a science fiction twist, check out Dallas' personal blog, HappySpaceNoises